Bride of Convenience

Chapter 1

When Kate first mentioned it to Julia, Julia didn’t know how to react. Marry a guy she didn’t even know! As Kate explained the details, it sounded a little appealing. Life had suddenly turned a little sour for Julia. Four months ago Julia’s co-worker, Adrian, had been caught embezzling money from the company they worked for. Half a million to be exact. Julia had not been involved in any way. Unfortunately, she was involved with Adrian at the time he ripped off the company. She was entirely exempted from any criminal activities. However, she was let go from the company and has had a hard time finding someone willing to employ her. Nobody actually knew about her relationship with Adrian other than the people conducting the investigation, but it seemed if you’re let go from a company so close to a scandal, no-one actually believes that you were innocent. She had a high paying job as a Personal Assistant at Timer and Forbes, and she lived a great life. Unfortunately, great lives cost a lot and four months without pay had totally demised her savings. To top that all off she opened the mail today to an eviction notice four weeks rent or she was out next week!

Suddenly Kate’s offer sounded a little more inviting. Kate was one of Julia’s long-time friends they had gone to college together and had their first jobs at the same firm both have moved on and up since then. That was close to ten years ago now.

Kate now worked for Harrison Bendleman, he was the most eligible bachelor known to man, woman or dog. He had asked Kate to assist him in finding him a wife willing to move to America, live in an apartment owned by him until the wedding date and then live with him, oh and also divorce him within six months all this while holding a position in his firm Harrison & Associates.

Harrison and Associates was a top of the line firm. You would be amazingly lucky to get your resume to pass the first cull. They only hired people with squeaky clean past, and that indeed wasn’t Julia. Once you got through to the next stage there was interviews with a panel of eight people. Then the final three successful applicants were interview by Harrison himself. Apparently he was very hands-on with his companies; finally, he would choose the person for the position. This process could take anywhere up to two months. Right now they were offering the post directly to Julia this job came with a husband built in, and when the marriage ended she was able to keep her position as PA.

Julia decided that the deal was perfect timing and that’s why she had just gotten off a flight from Australia and was driving in the back of a silver stretch limo heading to meet Harrison Bendleman and his lawyer.

She arrived at his home it was set by the ocean, and you could hear the waves crashing against the cliff below. The house was a colonial style two storey home. It looked warm and friendly. She looked out over the ocean and smelled the sea air. The salty smell reminded her of her home back in Australia. Sydney where she lived, and the beaches were her favourite place. Julia loved swimming in the ocean and having the waves crash over her. Then later in bed, that night enjoyed the sensation of feeling like she was still in the waves.

Looking over towards the home the front door opened she had expected to see a butler at the door. Her stomach did a backflip this was no butler. Harrison was a tall, dark-haired man with a strong jaw. His pinstriped suit although screamed business tycoon seemed to be concealing an arrange of muscles. She walked closer to him and found his eyes were a sky blue. As she smiled and introduced herself, she thought this might be a little fun after all.

“Hi, I’m Julia, you must be Harrison.” He took her outstretched hand but didn’t share the smile she was offering.

“Rolando, my lawyer, is inside waiting to sign the contract so if you don’t mind I would like to get this all tied up as soon as possible. I have other pressing issues I need to deal with.” She followed him into the study where inside waited a very tall official looking fellow. His suit seemed extremely expensive, and he gave off an air of authority.

“Take a seat.” It seemed more of an order than an offer. So she sat opposite the desk. “I’ll lay this out for you, and then we will leave you some time to read the contract and once you have agreed to it and signed it you can be on your way.” Charming this guy was! Not! How did Kate put up with the arrogance “Julia, I’m sure Kate has informed you of the basic content of the contract. They are two people at the office that knows the situation and why. First, obviously is Kate. Second is my 2IC and good friend Paul. Paul will be your direct boss if you accept the contract. I must warn you if you accept this contract you must be willing to go through it, till the final chapter I have no time in my life to make mistakes and choose the wrong person. However Kate assures me you are the right person for this position. Kate’s opinion is of high value to me, and I value her input. So you can imagine I didn’t make this decision lightly.” She imagined he didn’t do anything lightly and was wondering if had ever had any fun in his life at all. “So basically you get free rent in the businesses apartment. You will live there for three to four months while we court. It will be a very public courting so be prepared to have photos taken. I have no control over the people that we need to prove this to so there may be times when it gets difficult. I will do my best to keep it in control. You will need to be available for all functions that I attend with a date. Your position at work will be on merit alone. You will have the first month to adjust to your position, and from then on if you perform well, you will have a job. The job can continue once the contract has ended. Once the proposal is made, and the marriage has taken place you will move in here to one of the spare rooms. We will need to be married for six months, and then divorce proceedings will commence. This is where you will have a payout for the time you have been with me. Basically, I have fifty-one per cent of shares in my first company that my aunty Sally owned, I wished to repurchase them from her however she was stubborn and wouldn’t sell them to me. She died a little while ago.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” The look of disgust on his face told Julia that she shouldn’t have spoken and he continued as if she hadn’t.

“She left the shares to my wife. I don’t have a wife, but it clearly states that if I do have a wife and I do not file for divorce the shares will be written over to my legal wife. You. Which then on termination of the marriage I will pay you the rate the shares are worth. While you are here, you will have an unlimited credit card, which will help you in setting up the life I want you to lead. You will need to buy appropriate clothing for evenings out, casual evenings and business attire for the office. Questions?”